Posted on 08/21/2006 6:16:02 AM PDT by areafiftyone
The S.C. Republican Party’s sponsorship of “An Evening Honoring Rudy Giuliani” last week spoke volumes.
It reflected what some said is a shift in attitude toward GOP candidates with more liberal views on social issues.
There’s a greater degree of tolerance and acceptance, party officials said.
Giuliani, who rose to national prominence for his take-charge performance after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, supports gay rights, gun control and legalized abortion, which puts him at odds with most Republicans.
Nevertheless, he has traveled the country extensively on behalf of GOP candidates this year while acknowledging his own interest in a possible 2008 presidential bid.
Although his liberal stance on social issues is likely to disqualify him with religious conservatives, the former New York City mayor remains in great demand as a speaker before Republican groups.
In this visit — his first major political trip to South Carolina — Giuliani attended a fundraiser for conservative GOP congressional candidate Ralph Norman, the one-term state representative who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a 24-year House veteran in a hotly contested race in the 5th District.
Giuliani ended the day in Charleston at a star-studded $2,500-a-couple fundraiser for the state Republican Party.
He packed the place.
“Rudy is a very popular figure,” GOP chairman Katon Dawson said. “We didn’t have any problem with him coming.”
Giuliani, affectionately known as “America’s mayor,” is seen as middle-of-the-road by most voters nationally, according to Rasmussen Reports, an electronic survey company.
It found 36 percent of Americans see him as a political moderate, 29 percent said conservative, and 15 percent said liberal. Twenty percent are not sure.
Former state GOP chairman Barry Wynn said the party needs to take a fresh look at the way it regards new voters, especially those new residents who’ve settled along the coast and are starting to have an impact on state party politics.
Those voters tend to be more progressive in outlook and are more inclined to support someone like Giuliani.
“I think Rudy could be more popular in South Carolina than most people would think,” Wynn said.
The debate in 2008 isn’t going to be about tax cuts, abortion or Social Security reform — Republican favorites.
“The overarching issues this time will be national security and leadership,” Wynn said. “Everything else will fit under that.”
Such a scenario favors Giuliani, Greenville consultant Chip Felkel said.
Francis Marion University political scientist Neal Thigpen, a GOP activist, said Giuliani is in a “special category.”
He’s a “glittering personality” with star quality who can get away with supporting legalized abortion and gay rights.
His position on those social issues “would not hurt him as bad over the long haul as one may think. If John McCain had the same position, it would hurt him a lot worse.”
Needless to say, the hard-core religious right won’t surrender territory on social issues. They’d rather go down in flames than win.
But unless terrorists no longer are a threat to the United States, national security and leadership will be at the top of the issues heap in 2008.
Voters won’t be concerned about gay rights or abortion. What matters most will be their own security in a volatile world.
And the candidate who stands to benefit is Giuliani.
“If your house is on fire,” Wynn said, “you want a guy with the hose.”
On some issues this is an absolute necessity. If this country doesn't get it right on many of these "social issues," then it has basically ceased to justify its own existence and is likely doomed to collapse anyway.
So you can understand why some of us really don't give a sh!t if the President of the United States is a radical leftist Democrat or a radical leftist Republican.
Maybe Pat Robertson will run again.
That would be just what we need.........
Scheesh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You think Lying is "right"?
Dear Jake The Goose,
LOL!
Sure, no problem. Nominate Mr. Giuliani, and I go voluntarily. But so will millions of social conservatives.
If Mr. Giuliani has a tough time pulling 45% of the vote in the general election, please don't come back whining to us social conservatives that it's all our fault.
We explained why we couldn't vote for a liberal. You folks will have gambled that you could win without us. If, the day after the election in November 2008, you find that you lost your gamble, look inward for folks to blame.
Notice is served.
sitetest
Guiliani would win the primary in almost every Midwestern state. Maybe everyone.
Goodbye then,,,
Shall I call the orderly to help you back to your room?
Or will the nuns come help you?
Yeah, sure. We have killed something like 40-45 million Americans in abortion clinics all over this country in the last 35 years. What kind of "mortal danger" could we possibly face from al-Qaeda that comes close to this? They'd have to kill off every resident of our 20 largest cities to come even close to this.
This article is wrong. If Mayor Guiliani is nominated as President or Vice President, he will lose, and the Republican Party will fracture into a thousand pieces.
Millions of evangelicals (like me) and conservative Catholics will not vote for him.
If you believe there is any similiarity in the political staying power of Howard Dean and Guiliani you do not have a clue. They are as close as Arnold Stange and Arnold Schartzeneger.
It isn't an either/or proposition. It is not too much to ask that a President or V.P. be determined to fight terrorists, and also be against the taking of innocent life in the womb.
Hillary would sell the Chinese all military and technological secrets Bill didn't have a chance to.
If RG is running in 08 he will NOT be supported by the Gays.
Dear Jake The Goose,
Oh, heck, don't be so anxious to throw us social conservatives overboard!
I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I plan to stand and fight for the Republican Party. We may lose, but lots of us will fight giving over the Republican Party to the liberals.
But it's really funny to see how eager you are to throw us out.
So much for wanting an open debate.
;-)
sitetest
I'd never vote for him...
He belongs to the same group that supported and funded the antiwar movement.
LoL that is some hilarious shiite. We are doooomed at the mercy of the nefarious plotters.
Please prove where I lied.
B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l take, Cal, a stunner. Nice work.
Shows the depths to which this Rudy Fraudster and the Fakers pushing him will stoop, to foist this poseur on the rest of us.
Betcha Rudy and the Ding-a-lings think the NRA is the depression-era agency to revive the economy.
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REFERENCE FOUND AT CALPERNIA'S POST HERE: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1687294/posts?page=74#74
Senator Allen has, unfortunately, once again shown his inability to handle the Treason Media's stunts. He is not ready for the Big Time yet. Maybe as VP.
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